The Sun. — London, England, 1809-02-03 00:00:00

IMP ERIAL PARLIAATENT, /10178.4 OF COMMONS. THURSDAY, VEIL Q. The SPRAKOR read a, letter from Rear-Admiral 13! C,ourcy, in answer to one in which be had com municated to him the Thanks of the tiouse. The gallant 4drniral ennessed his pride and satisfaaion at ,the high honour whicil the House bad conferred upon him. .111 r.• a, MITP ortn, from tbe Treasury, presented an account 'of the annual premiums and bounty oil fish brought to the London Market. Mr. IjOsrussoN brought in a Bill for prohibiting, ;Intl' six weeks after the commencement of the next setision of Parliamenr, thedistillation of Spirits from Grain in Great Britain.—Read a first time, ordered to be read a second time on Monday, and to be printed., Mr. HUSNISSON me notice, that in the Com mittee of Supply to-morrow, he would move a vote 9f Seamen. • THE DUKE OF YORK. Mr. WA ant,t'was anxious -to correA an inadver tent error in his evidence yesterday evening, the had stated that he had not seen Mrs. Clarke on Tuesday morning, but he had since recolle6ted that he had seen her for a few minutes. The . C/lANCtI,LOR of the EXCHEQUER observed, that it was p.erfealy competent to the Honourable fientleman to correct his evidence as he thought proper. Mr. WattpLE moved, .‘f That a proper. 'person from the Office of the Commander in Chief of his Majesty's Vorc'es,, should attend the Committee to morrow, with the books containing any applications that had been for purchase by subalterns, -within the period of the three commissions given to Cap tain Mating; and alsb the books containing a list of the ~sabalterns in the army, .with the dates of their commissions, and a statement of their nnc t, , . The CHAN9ct.Lon of tne! r.xcni,4;oza, was by no means satisfied that such a Motion could be compii. ed with. Mr. WAnnt.s was disposed to adopt any other mode ,by whim, his obje4 could be obtained. The CHANCELJHI of tilt.. EXCHEQUER said, that without a very gravecase.having been made out, the House could hardly call for the production of all the representations of the chars ter and services of the subalterns of the army, that had been made to she Commander in Chief. With resricEt to the . former part of the. Honourable Gentleman's 'motion, al though he did not see anyobjeaiotfill it, bas would rather wish that he. would content himself with giving.a notice of it for to-morrow. He presumed, that should the Rouse agree to the motion to morrow,• the books Might be produced in time for the, investigation that was subsequently to take tilitee. If nut that investigation might he' ad, jourtied— • 'Mr. •V 4 4not,E aequiescing,, gave notice of the Whole of hi J 'notion. Sikt A. IrVTiLLESLEV". Mr. Wurrm;eAD, adverting to the question which he nadforni . ewty put to a Noble Lord, respelling the Seurepryshili of Ireland, and oh6ervlng the gallant liarnuet in bi 4 place wh o w as the subje& -of tlrtt question, thought it hiS ditty to ask him whether during the ,titue that he had been ;o gloriously Q:iting die battles of his country in Portugal, he 11,K1 roained . his Civil situation under the Irish Go vernment.; and whether he continued to hold .the office al;imled to. , . • Sir AIt.TIPIR WELC4SLEY said, he was sorry that lfr. ‘ was not in the House when the Hon. Gentleman adverted to, this subje& before, in order that he alight have saved him t he.trouble of m.iking a se 'pond application. In answer then to the question of the Hon, Gcnilcimu, be begged leave 10 state, that when he, accepted of the office which he at present had the honour to hold, it wits distinelly understood I.ly the Noble Duke at the head of the Government itt Leland, and. by his Noble and Hot). Friends near him, that it was not to prevent him front being em p:oyed in his professional character, wheoever an , opportunity should occur. In Consequence of t h at uederstanding, lie 'was employed in the Expedition ,to Denmark and to Portugal,- When he went on the Litter Expedition, he certainly understood 'than it was in the power of the Noble Dulco, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to appoint a perl,on to sue ;eed tiltn in his office, if his absence should be pro traded to such a length of time as to be likely to be productive of inconvenience to the public service, He clot (.1.11;144 expeCt that a successor would have been appointed, but the Noble Duke did not find such a ineuure nece;sary, in consequence of the ar, iangernents which had been made for carrying on the public busineSs. With respe6t to the cmolu- watts of his office, ' be begged leave to state, that . , Fe was absent about two months, that is th:say, from the 12th of July who beginning of Cklober, bpd that time he certainly did receive the salary attached to his office, but during the ;rector part of the time ,did not receive any emolument Iron) Militiii) , Cotornand. Jiis reason for taking his ,he would stale candidly to the House—Cien ticinen must know that .there were very heavy ex peoues attending the military situation to which he vas then appointed, which he confessed, he was not in 'a condition to: sustain, and therefore h e 'con ceived' himself justified in tatting his salary ltiring the ovo, wombs tie was absent, not receiving, as he earl before staled, his military emoluments during a &Teat part of the time. WitroutrtAa gave notice, that ire would Mr.!Ve a Itesoltrnort' of the House, " that the office of Chief 'Secretary for 'lrplaud was an effe6ive 9ffi , , , MILITIA ENLlsTlviiitsiT BILL, Qrcler of the Day having been read for the fiecov4 rending of the Militia Enlistment ISM, Lord CA S tputi•:Aou moved.; that it be pow real a second time, rvgetving to himself tho right olre 7 ply to nny otlittalPll3, that might be uq;ed against 414,1 measure.. r. 4t.t.torr rose to oppose pot the objet} of the WI, Liu I mode by which that object w a to be g . p s edy wly of augmenting r9 - sular army, he doubted whether it COlidtlee4 to, the dis• of the ivaplar.artuy, and wry; sure tWt it left die Nliiitirt wprst r procee(litg.s were persevered, lit, hr w,,of.ild drive the Alititia Ot)ivers 09t of beryice, He entered into a long defence or his Right Mott, , F;iend'a . (Mr.ffindttam) plan of enlisting for ed service, .and to prove that that plan had been founded in an accurate knowledge of !maim na.. Lure, referred4o the recruiting returns. , In the last 17 months it appeared that 19,072 men had been raised by ordinary "recruiting, of which number 14,381 had entered for limited service. In. 1807, • 19;152 men had been transferred in Great Britain from the Militia to the Line, of which number up wards of 03,000 enlisted for limited service. The proportion of • those who enlisted for limited service. in Ireland was about half and half. On the whole 27,505 men were in 1807 transferred from the Mi litia of the United Empire to the Line, of which number 19,948 had enlisted tor limited service.— He could not conceive a clearer proof of the advan tage that would have resulted in persevering in his Right Hon. Friend's plan instead of treating it in the shameful manner in which it had been treated. Col. Noon replied to the arguments of the Hon. Gentleman. He denied that the discipline of the army had suffered by the enlistment from the Mi litia, and adduced the excellent condu& of the Bri list) troops in Spain and Portugal in support of his Opinion. Instead of driving Officers out of the Mi litia, the system of occasionally permitting the Mi litia to volunteer into the Line held out the strongest Inducement to young men 'of respeaable, but not perhaps of opulent families, to enter that service, as it afforded them the hope, that they might gratui tously obtain commissions in the. Line. In Contra.: diaion to tho statement of the Hon. Gentleman, that the majority of recruits for the Regular Army enlisted for limited service, he instanced the expe• rience of a Recruiting Serjeant, at Birmingham,who had told him, that out of thirty-eight men enlisted by him, thirty-six had entered forunlimited ser vice. He , was convinced that there were many men in The Militia anxious to join the Line, and he did not see why an opportunity should not be afforded them) of gratifying their ardour. Sir T. TURTON wished to know, before he could agree to augment the disposable force, what it was intended to do with , t. The Noble Lord had stated last year, that after allowing for the borne defence, there would be 60,000 men convertible to purposes of foreign service. He wished to know where these men were. Unless we meant to repeat such scenes as the Convention of Ciutra or the retreat in Spain, We stood in need of no additional force ; for it. was childish to talk of danger of invasion with our su perior navy, Rome had been unable to conquer Sicily until she had subdued the Carthagenian fleet, He objeQed to the measure also on the ground of its changing the constitutional principles of the Mi litia of the country. Colonel ‘l3,lSrAlin argued against the Bill. The only eansequenCe ott he former measure for allowing the transfer of men (tom the Militia to - the Line, 'had been mutiny, drunkenness, and insubordination. He must do his Royal' Highness the Commander in Chief the justice to say, that in executing the former Bill, he had religiously adhered to the letter of it, and he would recommend the Civil Department of his Majesty'riGoverniuetit to imitate his Royal High ness's conduct - in this iesped. Lord EUSTON spoke against the measure, but in so low a tone, that it was impos:iible to mile& What the Noble 1.44 d said. Thet SEC k 'RETAR r AT WAR asserted, that it wns admitted, on all hands, that Some measure for aug menting the regular army was both proper and m emory: No other means but the present could be found for answering that purpose except a military conscription. It might be necessary for this couniry, in the present circumstances, of the world, to at great part on the Continent, and that was only t , be dune by increasing the amount of the regniar of the country. Though the operation of the I. c o; might, be a hardship, that hardship wo , 1:1 grant . ) relieved by the provisions Of LiF., Noble, Er4.nd's f ill. If the ballot were to apply at ewe, th e bounty nigt,t rise, but when the detieien 'y .eas le be Jradwily supplied, no suc h inc o .. ven i ence would he r v it. • Mr. DAVIES Gronv, as nearly as we could col lea his sentiments, approved of the estiblislunent of the Local Miiitia,, as securing the Country a4ain,t e . xposure to the danger of inyaivon. fie also consi dered the success of A similar measure In a Lite in stance its a good 'ground for the present. Mr. CALCUAFT agreed with the Secretary at War, that the mileary force of the Country ought to be placed on the most respectable tooting. It was but a few months since they had been told, that the army was then upon t'he highest eoblishnient of which the circumstances of the Country admitted.— The Noble. Lord ought therefore to state what the dirniontidti was which had taken place in that army wince that period, The Pipers presented last year shelved that the .artny then consisted of nearly 240,000 men, while the Papers then on the table skewed its amount to be only 210,000. 'lt was the duty of the Noble Lord, therefore, to' shew how this diminution had taken place. The Hon. Gentle man then, entered into a defence of the Military System of his Right ,Hon. Friend (Mr. Windham), which he contended had not had a fair trial. That system had produced, whilst in ferce, a supply of nearly 24,000 'annually, a supply as great as the cir cumstances of the population of this Country;weuld admit of. lie did not liwk to our acting any great military.part upon the Continent, and hoped, that before we should attcnipt any such operation, we should Inaturely weigh, the circumstances, and the scene upon which we would have to act. :this was the fourth instance in which the Militia bad been drafted to, supply the Army, and the etfeet of this praaice had been to drive qualified officers out of that three. He did not think it putsible to recruit the Militia by the bounty proposed in the Noble meaSure., , If men were wanted for the pub 'e service, they should he raised at the public ex-. pence. The SECRETAny AT WAR explained. Colonel FRANKLAND lamented that the present Measure had not been delayed till th e f u ll est infor mation reripeting' the state of the army had been laid on the tabhyof the House. The Address to the Thriate only pledged the liouse to investigat e such measures as might increase the disposable force of the Country i without impairing its defensive means. The constitutional military laws of the Country had provide a - force which was not to he trusted to the discretion, or rather the indiscretion of any ste t . Was a rear and unbalanced army, he asi(ed, the best security for the tletnce of the Country ? The I.lottie was pledged to maintain Ow cbaystitu fienal laws of the Country, and if he were to agiee to the present pleasure, he should consider his cop duet nridutifulbuintne, and unprincipled towards his constituents. Mr. Locicitardid not think, that. the Present mea sure could be considered Oppressive if it was neces sary, and . contended, that if any' expence was in curred bY the ballot, it ultimately fell upon the_ pa rishes, and consequently could not be said to be in dividually oppressive. Lard CASTLEREAGH begged to say a few words upon the objeaions that had been urged against the measure. into whatever hands the administration of affairs might fall, the augmentation of, the regu lar force would not be an unacceptable service, and certainly if the . Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Frankland), or his friends shoull come into employ - meat, they would have reason to thank him and his colleagues for having performed this odious task of increasing the regular army for them by this odious measure.' And whatever Gentlemen might think of the result of the campaign, they could not con ' sider it a proper exercise of their contruul upon the Executive, to impede the progress ot measures, upon the principle of which all were agreed. Were the Hon. Gentlemen prepared to state upon their own information, that the circumstances of the campaign were such as to preclude hope ?. Whatever they might think.of Spain, as long as the people of that country should be true to themselves and determined to resist the tyranny that was resolved to subdue them, both the Parliament and the country were bound to support them. But, if even the struggle ,was to be considered at an end in Spain a thing which, he could not admit, i n t h e c ase o f a, whole feople rising simultaneo us ly an d genera ll y , to resist oreign despotism; were not Gentlemen aware that . something would grow out_of that question, which would call upon this country to prOvide a large and efficient disposable force, not only for the de- . fence of the British interests, but to resist French. aggression ? What a case might they not make out. against his Colleagues and him, if he should neglect the means of proViding a numerous and invincible army against such an emergency ? As to the state ment of the Hon. Gentleman opposite, respe&ing the effeaive strength of the army, according to the returns of the last year, and those now upon the table, he had only to state, that . in last year's returns the artillery had been included, wheteas the returns of the present year contained only the amount of the regular infantry and cavalry.-- 7 The fait was, that the , army` had, within the last year, bad an increase of bet Ween 2 and 3000 men, though he was bound to state, that the late returns did not ' include the ca sualties in. Spain, as they did those in Portugal. The' returns shewed the number of battalions of the Line that consisted of more than 600 men, and those un der thatamount; the former being 126 in number, and the latter 56. If his .measure should be pro duative to the extent he expe&ed, namely, to obtain 27,000 men, that accession of (nice would raise these 56 deficient battalions to tnorethan 900 men. each, and consequently plade every battalion in the army ,upon an establishment fit for itrimediate ser. vice. Whether therefore the general principle of augmenting the effe&ive strength of the army, or the particular objea of rendering all the battalion's fit for immediate service were consit:crud, he was sure the House would be convinced of the pro priety of the present measure. 'The Noble I.Ord then.went into a statement of the `comparative effi cacy of the reertiiting for the army, under his own and his Right Hon. predecessor's systems, and con cluded'by stating,. thatlii the presctit day the liber ties of the country were in no danger from any , ac cession that could be made to the disposable force of the country, but that on the contrary the best security for those ,liberties was to be found in the slit it and principles of. the Officers and men corn posing that force. Loid TRMPLE contended, that a case of emer i;:ncy sufficient to authorise the mea'sure, should, upon former occasions, have been shewn. This .code of recruiting the Regular Army had now crept Into a system, which he :considered as one of the most unfair that could possisly be devised. He then entered into a comparison between Mr. Windham's military system and that adopted by the present Ad ministration, and contended, that the former was in finitely the best, and most produdive of men. He ;gave his decided dissent to this measure; , • The question being now called for, was ptit and carried without a division, The Bill was then read a socond 'titne ; and it was resolved that the House should go into a Committee upon it on,Monday; The Committee on the Plymouth Dock Police, Bill, was postponed till this day. ae'nnight. • . NOTICES, &c: Lord TEMPLE gave notice, that he should .on Monday move that there be laid before the House Returns shewing the difference between the• British Army as it entered Spahr, and as. it embarked on quitting that country on its return home. Also, for an Account of the Sums of Money, Arms, Clothing, Sec. ativally received by the Spaniards from this country. . "1 -/era CASTLEREAGII said, he could have no oh jeetion to either of these motions, but he did not know how Government could comply with them; as the itetarns necessary to enable them to accord _with the first, had not been made, and it was im possible at present to ascertain the second. Sir A. Wat.Last.av gave notice that .he should on Monday move for leave to bring in a , Bill to amend and consolidate the Bill relatingto theirish Militia. Sir .11: WELLEsLav also gave notice, that on the same day he should tneye for leave to bring in a Bill 'to permit Irish Bishops to Frauk Letters within their dioceses. Mr. W. TAvt.ott gave notice for Monday, that he would move that the instructions given by Govern ment to the Commander in Chief of our Army in Spain, should be laid before the House. Lord CASTLEREAGH felt no indisposition to com ply with thia motion, on the contrary, be had thought the objett of it was the course natural for (3aernment to pursue, and bad consequently a l rea dy tendered these instrationa to'a !tight Hon. Gentle. m4n, who intended to bring forward a charge against hie Majesty's Ministers f o r t h e mod e in which the war had been concluaed. hacl not considered any previous noti ce neces4ary,—,Adjourned Halt= past Sine o'Clock, MAILS. Vvs, -9 Ckatelibtiri.ll, t Us4 . l.llin, W4terfird, CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DEc. 30. The Bill, " To deprive Vessels, in certain cases, -of their American; charaaer, &c." was postponed till Monday. The Resolution for raising 50,000 Volunteers, was adopted in a Committee of the whole, and debated at length in the House, The Embargo is now discussed upon every ques tion that is debated in the House, and indeed is al most the only subjea that undergoes discussion. Neither the Non-Inte rco urse Bill, nor the New Embargo Bill, is yet called up. • The language of the orators of the Majority yesterday and to-daj--even that of Mr. Ee'ns, is , " 'We have tried the embargo almost long enough permanent Etnbargo—WAß ! WAR ! WAR !" The debate of this day has been tumultuous and even tempestuous. PRICE OF - STOCKS • Tills DA Y TWILL.Vs O'CLOCK. Conspls. THE SUN. 1101,1.4 QUIS 131C11411 /USW* AUDFAT LONDON, ritiroor,:foutTAßY 3,180 g. The 29th and 30th French Bulleiins seactea town this 'morning ; the former ,contains an account of the surrender of a Spanish army of moo° men, under the command of General PANEGAS, who Was killed, to General VICTOR. The loth Bulletin, which is dated Valladolid, the 21st ult. contains an account of the battle before Corunna, and of the victory which the Frepgli 013 ' tained there, with the loss only, of 100 men killed, and 150 wotinded ! The loss of the English, of course, is represented as immense i but it is singular Ow •no notice is taken of the death of General MOORE, or the wound of Sir D. BAIRD : from this circtimstAnce we may infer that the French bad not entered Coruna, or they must , of course have been informed of the death of the British Commander in Chief. The Bulletin does not state that the Frcnch hadentered either Ferrol or Corruna. We this morning received New-York Papers to the 6th ult. but their .contents are not very interest ! ing. The Bill for Prohibiting all intercourse with the Belligerent Powers had not finally paised . at the date of our last accounts,, but from the decided £U t' jority which Mr. JEPFERSON possesses in the Senate: and the House of Representatives, theie c o lt) be 14 1 1 6 doubt that it will be passed into a law. -A , pro; - )0 4 sition which has been made to Congress !or an dition of 5 0,090 men.to the gtilitary fUrce, has created very long and violent debates. I'he opponents of the measure contend, that it is a decisive proof either that the Executive Government have resolOd upon a war, or else that this force is to be employed , in destroying the Liberties of the People of America. • The Anniversary of the laying on the Embargo (2 24 December), was observed at many of the American Ports with peculiar ceremony; the national colours Were hoisted half mast high, and minute guns were bred, to denote the death of American Cornnlerce' The language of the Newspapers against the Execu tive Government is uncomm on ly strong. The following is the concluding sentence of paragraph in the New-rork Commercial ildvertiser of the sth ult. " All hopes of relief are brought to a final issue. It is for the people, from whom all power emanates', who have been taught by their, present rulers that they have a right to resist oppression, and to oppose all encroachments upon their rights—it is tor tintli to say that these things rims/ not le." it is with pleasure we learn, that the accouP which Governinent have this day received froinidir. bon, dated the zsth ult. are of a contrary nature 19 , those which we yesterday mentioned. No advices had reached Lisbon to that time, of thi arrival of the French in Portugal. The 1) 1 0 1. were arming, and appeared determined to resist t" Enemy. The .British troops were not, as reported, evacuating Lisbon,, but as one of our Regiments 1 0 embirked on . 6 Pal : Ocular service, that ',dreamscape' might naturally give rise to the rumour. On Wednesday morning his MAJESTY, Plinceaso AUGUSTA, 4/'/lIA, and A AIRLIA , accompan i e d by Lady 'ELY, Generali FITZROY and CARTwaloill'i And Colonel TAYLOR, took an airing on horseback in the Great Park, and returned at twelve o'clock t( ) Windsor Castle. The QutEN, Princesses ELIZABETH and MAB v ' toolt.an airing to Frogtuore Lodge, and walked the Gardens. The Imogene brig of war is arrived from the Mir" danelles, with dispatches from Mr, A who ta• ruined in good health at tOlistantineple subsetiovit to' the late revoltitians. She brings also accounts from Malta to the 16th December. The Mar a ' Leonidas, and P revoyante, h a d arr i ved there wit'k' part of their convoy from England. Off Sardinia! the fleet was dispersed in a gale of wind. f r" "ii,y4r4 received great damage, and there was other' wise much miscluet done. '1 he brig Firm, M‘1 , 1 109 " for T,,ondoti, got on shore, op returning into port; she knocked off her anchor, and was obliged to dis' charge., The brig Hope, Oncumiti,Aioin Live' pool; put into Syracuse, having shifted her. cargo lo consequence of being l ea ky. 'The .A F Q.cion p t i cke g was at Malta wtAct bvuns